Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager The Oakville Beaver, published every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, at 467 Rd., Oakville, is one of the Metroland Printi ishing Distributing Ltd. group of suburban newspapers which includes: Ajaxâ€"Pickering News Advertiser, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Collingwood Connection, Etobicoke Guardian, lown I W Acton Free . Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist and Sun, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Milton Canadian Champion, Mississauga News, Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby This Week, Peterborough This Week, Richmond HilV Thomhil/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror. All material published in the Oakville Beaver is protected by copymAny reproduction in whole or in part of this material is strictly forbidden without the consent of the publisher. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of the advertising space oecurbd by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to cbaslegorize and sol or services at the wrong price, goods or services may reject advertising. In the event of typographical error, advertising goods ising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. ion of most Canadians who believe that our penal system just isn‘t doing their job. Note that we use the term penal and not justice. Wood, 36, was the man who along with two of his brothers, David, 39 and Philip, 37, were responsible for the 1984 murder of 20 yearâ€"old Karen Thomson of Guelph. She was beaten senseless and thrown into Lake Ontario while still alive. Her body washed back up on shore off Coronation Park here in Oakville. Te ‘escape‘ of convicted killer Colin Wood, once again justifies the impresâ€" s oo ME ie e Th;);'rJlsonw v;as zi friend of the Wood brothers but was also to act as a witness at a break and enter trial of Colin Wood when she was kllled Et By any account, the Wood brothers were nothing short of animals. Police familâ€" iar with the family say their lives have been rife with violence and drug dealing in addition to murder. A fourth brother, Douglas, was also in jail at the time his other brothers were convicted. It has been reported that Douglas was so violent, that upon his release, he was deported back to England but commercial airlines refused to carry him. In fact he was apparently only allowed to make the trip on an Armed Forces flight while his hands and feet were shackled. wl es 5 1 usn etly, yet very effectively. That service is Halton Crime Stoppers and last week the Crime Stoppers column, which runs weekly in the Oakville Beaver hit pay dirt. s It is a service that many people have heard about and one that operates quiâ€" s _ On New Year‘s Day, a man was delivering a pizza near Kinoak Arena. He was accosted by three youths, two took the food and cigarettes from the drivâ€" er while the other brandished a black handgun. Cash wasn‘t stolen but the three did leave the scene and were seen getting into a car driven by a fourth youth. Thanks to a tip', Halton Police have charged an Oakville 18 yearâ€"old with robbery along with three other Young Offenders who face similar charges. Given this background, how is it possible that Colin Wood merely walked out of the minimum security and unfenced Bath Institution? More to the point, what was this guy even doing at such a facility? 20 0o esc Em es s To 1 Mn mt J N e Cl ol ce c 0e n n ue t Three years ago Immigration Canada applied for Colin, Philip and David Wood to be deported as soon as they were eligible for parole. In Colin‘s case, that wouldâ€" n‘t happen for seven more years. in n e And this case is not an isolated example, just one of many instances in which someone reads about a crime and helps police with some facts that could lead to an arrest. It‘s a program that deserves the community‘s support and one that‘s working. _ It‘s incredible to us that such a serious criminal could even be considered for any kind of latitude in his prison housing. There are, obviously, two words lacking in the vocabulary of our prison system these days....common sense. Stopping crime Bizarre logic 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 Remember the scene where a painfully adolescent Dustin Hoffman, desperately trying to deke away from a hideous cocktail party around his parents‘ pool, is cornered by a sleazy businessman guest who claps a hand on his shoulder and mutters boozily, "Kid...I‘m just gonna say one word to ya. Plastics." Jeez. Entrepreneurial enthusiâ€" asm gets infectious. I sound like a major Goo stockholder, but I‘m just an amateur birdwatcher with my Bushnells trained on the laboâ€" ratory of a chirpy little science researcher by the name of R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. Doctor Brown is a botanist at the University of Texas down in Austin. Remember the movie The Graduate. Yes, Goo! The allâ€"new miracle building block! Stronger than steel! Lighter than aluminum! As comfortable as cotton! You can wear it or burn it in the fireplace! You can use it to caulk canoes or thicken eyeliner! You can even make bulletâ€"proof vests out of it! Mindâ€"bending, historyâ€"changing Goo! If they were filming The Graduate in 1994, the guy would sidle up to Dustin, grab him by his Beavis and Butt Head Tâ€"shirt and snarl, "Kid...I‘m just gonna say one word to ya. Goo." Mind you, you‘d never guess he was a plant man from the aroma emanating from his lab. It smells like a brewery. The reek comes from the flat 12â€"footâ€"long trays of sappy white liquid fermenting peacefully under a bank of fluoresâ€" cent.lights. When it comes to science, ‘goo‘ is the only way to go wn + But edibility is the least of Goo‘s pedigree. Doctor Brown has convinced the experts at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that his goo is in their future. He says goo can be used as a rocket booster additive, as a structural component for the rockets themselves â€" even as a fabâ€" ric for space suits. of > Hey, if you want to get in touch with Doctor Lamb to massage him with wads of money and become a major player in the Goo game, be my guest. And if it works out, and goo does revolutionize all our lives, incidentally turning you into a 24â€" karat quadrillionaire, well... ; Just remember who t1pped you That‘s the Goo! Bacterial cellulose, actually. The stuff is a chemical cousin of the cellulose that makes up the trunks of trees. It‘s ironic â€" we spend billions of dollars and lumâ€" berjackâ€"hours and chainâ€"saw teeth hacking down our forests to get at the cellulose. Doctor Brown whips the stuff up in test tubes in his lab. What‘s more, he says there‘s no reason we couldn‘t be doing it big time. He says we could stop the assault on the earth‘s forests, cut down global warming â€" and create a whole new branch of agriculture for farmers â€" make ‘em Gooâ€" growers, producing endless tons of the stuff in huge fermentation bins. How good is Goo? To hear Doctor Brown tell it, it‘s the greatâ€" est thing since sliced bread. As a matter of fact, it is sliced bread. Or sliced something. Yes, you can actually eat the stuff. It‘s a dessert delicacy called Nata de Coco, sold in better gourmet food shops from Istanbul to Antigonish. What do I think? Am I going to jump on the Goo bandwagon and invest my money in it? Is NASA buying this sales pitch? Lock, stock, and cellulose. The agency is backing the Doctor with research money. Goo is makâ€" ing friends elsewhere, too. Medical pioneers in Rio de Janeiro have successfully used the goo as a humanâ€"skin substitute for burn victims. Sony Corporation incorâ€" porates the stuff in some topâ€"ofâ€" theâ€"line audio speakers. A Japanese consortium has ponied up millions of dollars for further But not everybody thinks goo is the way to go. Johnson and Johnson Inc. bailed out of a project to produce medical products from bacterial cellulose. They couldn‘t see any future in it. Others claim the whole concept has been seriâ€" ously overhyped. course. Nah. For a couple of reasons. Firstly, I came of age in the time when Toronto real estate was a sure bet, and something called Cold Fusion was going to revoluâ€" tionize physics forever. Secondly, who‘s got cash to invest? Not this humble hack. But don‘t let me hold you back! Hey, if you want to get in touch with Doctor Lamb to massage him with wads of money and become a major player in the Goo game, be my guest.